India's Border Roads Organisation (BRO) issues a Request for Qualifiers from parties interested in bidding for the design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) of the 14.1km long Zozila tunnel, and associated infrastructure, in Jammu and Kashmir.

Zozila tunnel will improve connectivity

Deadline of 1 July has been set for the pre-qualfication submissions to tender for the contract, which includes 10.8km of approach roads. BRO has given an indicative total project cost of Rs9,090 Crore (US$1.57 billion) for the Zozila scheme, and said the concession agreement would be made known to the selected bidder at the tender stage.

The Zozila project is located on the National Highway 1, at an altitude of approximately 3000m in the Himalayan mountains. It involves construction of a single tube, bi-directional tunnel with a parallel egress tunnel system. Rising towards the east portal, the difference in elevation along the length of the tunnel is approximately 410m, and the design speed for traffic is 80km/hr.

In addition to the approach roads, key infrastructure also includes a 60m span bridge and 700m long snow gallery. Technical consultant on the project is 3G/Vayamtech JV.

Earlier in the procurement process the schedule called for RFQ submissions by January. Then, the length of the tunnel was then given as 13.9km with the same total length of approach roads, and the indicative total project cost was Rs8,942 Crore (US$1.54 billion).

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